Motwani sells chunk of Fort Lauderdale industrial site for $10.4M

Motwani plans to build a three-story, 130,700 of self-storage facility on the land he’s keeping

2201 West Broward Boulevard rendering Inset: Dev Motwani

Bridge Development Partners, a Chicago-based industrial real estate developer, just bought a large piece of Dev Motwani’s industrial development site in Fort Lauderdale for $10.4 million, property records show.

Bridge Development’s Bridge Riverbend LLC acquired 11.7 acres at 2201 West Broward Boulevard, where it plans to build a 221,542-square-foot distribution facility called Bridge Point Riverbend. The developer expects to break ground in August, according to a press release.

Records show Motwani’s Riverbend Broward L.P. bought the entire 17.7-acre site in 2014 for $5.9 million. The land was rezoned to allow for commercial uses before selling to Bridge Development, Motwani told The Real Deal.

Motwani, president of Merrimac Ventures, plans to build a three-story, 130,700-square-foot self-storage facility. The ground floor will have 8,000 square feet of retail fronting Broward Boulevard. The Fort Lauderdale developer is working on securing $15 million to $20 million of construction financing.

“With the Fort Lauderdale residential trend shifting toward smaller units we thought it would be a good addition,” Motwani said, citing a greater demand for storage spaces in the area. Potential tenants would include quick service, neighborhood-friendly retailers, according to Motwani.

Land-use attorney Robert Lochrie III of Lochrie and Chakas P.A. and land transaction attorney Andy Gross of Hunting and Gross P.A. represented Motwani. He also plans to build a 300-unit, $70 million multifamily project on Dania Beach.

Bridge Point Riverbend will feature 32-foot tall ceilings and rear loading docks to accommodate tenants of 40,000 square feet and up, according to the release. Bridge Development has more than 16 million square feet of industrial real estate in South Florida, northern New Jersey, Los Angeles and Chicago, according to its website.

Steven Wasserman of Colliers International is handling leasing for Bridge Point Riverbend. Colliers reported earlier this year that Broward’s industrial market peaked in recent months thanks to increasing rental rates and vacancy rates that have dropped to about 4.4 percent.

Last month, a car wash equipment manufacturer sold his 136,894-square-foot warehouse in Tamarac for $18.5 million to the Boston private equity firm Cabot Properties. Michael Dezer, the founder of Dezer Development, and his wife Noemi Dezer invested $6 million in a 52,738-square-foot warehouse in Fort Lauderdale.